Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the art of a vehicle control system configured to operate the vehicle autonomously.
Discussion of the Related Art
JP-A-2014-106854 describes an automatic driving vehicle control apparatus includes: detection means for acquiring at least any of vehicle traveling state, vehicle surrounding state, and driver state; automatic driving means for automatically driving a vehicle; and determination means for determining whether a condition for automatic driving is satisfied or not. According to the teachings of JP-A-2014-106854, the determination means determines that the automatic driving condition is not satisfied when detection accuracy of the detection means does not satisfy a predetermined criterion. When the determination means determines that the automatic driving condition is satisfied, the vehicle is started the automatic driving. By contrast, when the determination means determines that the automatic driving condition is not satisfied during automatic driving, a warning is given to a driver to cancel the automatic driving. The automatic driving vehicle control apparatus taught by JP-A-2014-106854 is further configured to periodically calculate a stop spot where the vehicle can be safely stopped based on the vehicle surrounding state and the vehicle traveling stat, and to guide the vehicle to the stop spot when the driver does not cancel the automatic driving against the warning to cancel the automatic driving.
The vehicle to which the control apparatus taught by JP-A-2014-106854 is applied may be operated not only manually by a driver but also autonomously, with or without the driver or a passenger. In the conventional art, a plurality of autonomous vehicle may be propelled while stay in a desired formation.
During autonomous operation of the vehicle while carrying a passenger, the vehicle is controlled in such a manner as to improve ride quality. By contrast, during autonomous operation of the vehicle without carrying a passenger, the vehicle is controlled in such a manner as to improve energy efficiency. For example, such autonomous operation of the vehicle may be realized by an adaptive cruise control. However, the conventional adaptive cruise control system may be modified to improve energy efficiency of the vehicle taking into account of air resistance, and to improve ride quality taking account of a safe distance from a preceding vehicle.